


lungs made of moths and weeds

by craftingdead



Series: charlie will make cd a common tag if it kills them [10]
Category: The Crafting Dead
Genre: Body Horror, Gen, Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 21:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/craftingdead/pseuds/craftingdead
Summary: The four things he learned along with his new body.





	lungs made of moths and weeds

The first thing Barney learned was how to lie.

After being revived by Dr. Jin and that strange man Xavier, he didn’t know what to do. His senses were dark, his mind whirling at miles unreachable by human travel, swirling around one thought, one name: “Goat.”

It was the first word out of his mouth as he stirred.

Things after that were confusing. The doctor and professor gazing at him, wide-eyed with shock plastered onto their faces. He would be shocked too. Though, there was a blast of exhilaration coursing through his body at the thought of being alive. Barney was back, baby! Giddy relief flooded his body as he thought of Goat, of seeing him again.

But there were some things that had to come before that.

“How are you feeling?” Fine. _Horrible_.

“Can you move?” Yes. _Barely_.

“Do you remember anything about your death?” No. _Every moment_.

At first, when he felt bad about lying, he remembered it was so he could see Goat again. His Goat! So he gritted his teeth (some of them flaked at the motion and made him gag) and lied through them, breezing past the time as he is bombarded with more and more questions. Soon, the two leave and he is left in silence.

The second thing Barney is taught is pain.

Agonizing hours spent with Dr. Jin sewing his skin back up, the tears from months of decay being reversed as he is slowly but surely brought back to full health.

But, if one stitch is even slightly off; if something goes a little too deep into his skin, it’s all over and they have to restart. This goes on for hours and hours, days and days, weeks and weeks; a never-ending cycle of pain and suffering.

Sometimes the stitches don’t even work. Sometimes, Dr. Jin will get finished with one, step back to admire his handiwork and then his skin will peel off and the whole thing will straight-up fall off, undoing the stitches and sending blood trickling down his face. Jin will stare for a little while, shake his head and mutter something to himself, then walk over to a cabinet full of medical whatever-the-hell and grab some bandages and then he’ll be stuck with them, wrapped around his face for another week.

Other times, it’s not even the stitches or glue or whatever the doctor was putting onto him to help heal his body. Sometimes it was him coughing up dirt or weeds or hell, sometimes even bugs. It was horrible and it felt horrible and the doctor and professor were trying so hard to help fix it but they couldn’t figure out a way.

So he sat in silence as they argued over his body and vitals and whatever sciency-shit they got up to. Waiting.

The third thing Barney learns is how to be patient.

Waiting for hours on that table, in that test tube, in a room they’d set up for him, locked and bolted from the outside. He doesn’t know if anyone else knows that he is alive; if anyone but the doctor and professor are worried and curious about him. But, Goat would have to know. They couldn’t just bring him back without telling Goat!

So he waited. Sat twiddling his thumbs as people pass his room, talking in hushed voices he couldn’t hear. Occasionally being brought to the lab for check-ups and being brought food, though he hadn’t had much of an appetite.

But, one day in the lab, waiting for Xavier to come back from some project he was working on, someone else walked in. Someone he hadn’t seen in a very long time: Nick. Nick was there! If he was there Goat was sure to not be far behind! He grew ecstatic as Nick walked in and did a double-take, staring at him with eyes wide. The professor was saying something to him but it was dust to him because Nick was there, Goat was there! He grinned as their leader approached him, a sympathetic smile on his lips, but why would it be sympathetic? Sure, he was hurting but not as much as before!

The last thing Barney learned was grief.


End file.
